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christmas. my goal is we get to an agreement with the president of the united states that addresses this problem. >> don't even think about raising medicare age. we are not throwing america's seniors over the cliff to give a tax cut for the wealthiest people in america. >> the president is not going to stop spending. he is proposed -- >> senator -- >> more spending. so it's hard to work with someone who i think is intentionally trying to take us over this cliff. >> he is prepared to negotiate but it is not a tenable position to say that the tax cuts for the wealthy should be made permanent. it is not gonna happen. >> as for future talks between the president and house speaker bain per, so far, none are planned and all of this comes as our new nbc news/wall street journal poll shows 70% of democrats and 59% of republicans want their party's leaders to come to an agreement, even if it means not sticking to long-held position on taxes and entitlements. joining me now, democratic congresswoman gwen moore of

wisconsin, a member of the house budget committee. thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me, tam rochblt. >> we got word from aides, speaker boehner, going to ohio tomorrow, whether that might impact communication with the president concerning the fiscal cliff, the speaker says ohio has both cell phone service and airports so if the president wants to talk or meet, it won't be a problem at all. at this point, nothing is scheduled. what does that mean to you about the talks at this point? >> my read is the republicans and john boehner, in order to get his caucus involved, they are insisting on getting the ryan budget and the romney budget plan through by negotiation fiat. they didn't whip the election but they still want -- they want to win by negotiation fiat. i think that they are -- in order to save face, they are

demanding that there be severe cuts to medicare, social security. i think they want the change, the president to agree to the chained cpi for social security, raise the medicare age and wants to back down from cutting tax decreases -- increases, i'm sorry, for the top 2%. they want the president essentially to cave. also. >> so you believe republicans are more focused on entitlements and changing the medicare eligibility age than they are on inkrieg the tax rate you do you think that is their priority at this point? >> i do. tamron, i think exactly. they realize that they don't have any choice about the>> i d. tamron, i think exactly. they realize that they don't have any choice about the bush era tax cuts expiring december 31st. to extract victory, they want

these entitlement changes n addition to that they want the fourth agree on fire of the bush era tax cuts to be increased. they don't want to start at a baseline that recognizes, realizes that we have already cut to the bone some of the d discretionary spending programs them want to push middle class and poor people into austerity. >> show you this headline today, up today on politico, john boehner says he is open to more revenue but that's if the white house gets specific on entitlement cuts. is that a compromise you would be following make at this point? i know you pointed out the paul ryan budget, many progressive liberals very unhappy with that, pointing out how it would hurt, as you pointed out, the middle class, the poorer people in this country. but when you look at that nbc news/"wall street journal" poll,

folks indicate that they would like to see both sides come to some compromise on long-held believes, which include entitlements? >> tamron, we have already agreed to entitlement changes. >> right. >> the affordable care act saves $700 billion. in addition to that the president is willing to bring more changes to medicare to the table. i certainly am in favor of negotiating pharmaceutical drugs, that part d pharmaceutical program would generate savings like $350 billion over ten years. that's good place to start changing entitlement program. so, i think that there are areas for entitlement change that we can, you know -- that are possible, but, you know, republicans very specifically want to gouge out benefits to beneficiaries rather than taking

those savings from medicare, from some of the providers. >> quickly, where we are right now, we played a series of reactions just today alone. you saw the president included in that as well as nancy pelosi and others. what is your gut at this point? with what you know earthquake the conversations happening behind the scenes that you have been privy to amongst the rank and file in the party, do you believe we are going over this cliff? >> i can tell that you it's a great possible that we will go over the cliff. i certainly hope somebody thought in the washington, d.c., area will invite me to dinner for christmas day. i don't even know if i will be able to get home. but i think if we do, we will then be very concerned about an austerity cliff. and really destroying our economy. i think it is very egregious that the republicans are willing to destroy the economy, perhaps create a worldwide recession, on

behalf of continuing to campaign on their failed campaign of 2012. >> congresswoman, thank you so much for your time. i greatly appreciate it. >> thank you for having me, tamron. >> of course. let me bring in our news nation political panel today, nationally syndicated talk show host, michael mir is con his, chris kofinis and cheryl taupe let's from roll call. chris irk let me start off with an interesting thing i have noticed today. you have both sides now you not just saying but implying the other wants to go off the cliff for some kind of gain. >> not sure what gape they have. they have to budge on tax rates, that doesn't mean speaker boehner's party and caucus has

come to terms with that. that is the crux of the political problems here for the speaker in terms of how does he make a deal with the president and the basically have enough support in his caucus? i think the president has been very clear he is following make a deal. he has come down from 1.6 to 1.4. the speaker came back with the same number. the president can't negotiate with himself. i don't think the president wants to go over the cliff. i hope speaker boehner doesn't want to go over the cliff. but at some points, you cannot accept a deal that doesn't make any fiscal or let alone policy or political sense. >> let me play something about the conservative media and senator tom harkin. >> they have really manufactured this. reminds me of -- remember the y2k crisis where we went to the

millennium? people were all scared and hyped up and everything? nothing happened. and this crisis has been manufactured by the conservatives to scare people so that we will do something in a hurry. >> chris, your thoughts on that comment? >> well, there is i think some real valuable concern that people should have about going over the cliff. what is the long-term economic impact? it's tough to say because my guess is the way that washington works and i have seen it work first-happened is they literally get right to the deadline and miraculously, there's a deal. so i'm still somewhat optimistic that they will get something done. but if we go over the cliff, it just sends a terrible message to the american people that our government can't work. that is not the right thing we should be sending, not the right message we should be sending. >> the polling that we have shows that people overwhelmingly, both sides you want to see some kind of compromise here. we just spoke with congresswoman

moore. we have talked with a number of people on both sides of this. it seems each side has their line in the sand, albeit, not always clear. i just want to play something from this morning. congresswoman jackie speer talking about the possibility, or the lack thereof, of raising the medicare age. >> will you exchange a tax hike for the rich for raising the age on medicare, as you just alluded to, that issue of medicare? >> that's the one area that doesn't make any sense. why should we do something that's stupid? >> and we have heard republicans are holding on, if you will, as chris pointed out, there's no reality in the storyline that they will not raise tax rates for the wealthiest. so, what does that then mean for democrats who have to somehow -- reply can't be, well that's soup foirksd raise the eligibility age, there has to be another counter to it. >> right, i think it mean he is that the final package, if we get a final package to vote on in the next week on capitol hill is going to be a really unique

coalition of some republicans and some democrats assuming entitlements are part of the package, which republicans don't seem to have without. i think democrats will be willing to work for a framework of entitlement cuts and some republicans able to do it but all part of the final melting pot of voters this going to need to pass this if they get a deal. >> michael, let look at some of the nbc news/wall street numbers as we point out, 61% of americans,american america americans, the newest poll, to be added into a laundry list of polls that all scream that same message, tax rates must go up on the wealthiest. why not get that portion of the deal done here when i don't know who does not agree with it at this point. >> as a political matter, republicanness don't embrace that publicly, instead of making a part of their negotiated

package. if they were to do so speaker boehner embrace raising taxes for the wealthiest of americans, i think there would be a momentum shift and the white house would come under increasing pressure to put forth more cuts. your polling data also suggests that you know, the vast majority of both republicans and democrats, they want compromise. so why the rs don't take that step and i think have it to their benefit, i don't understand. >> i get all your thoughts on, this the poll shows 38% trust president obama in hand alling fiscal cliff talks. 19%, just 19, trust speaker boehner. 28% say they don't trust neither -- either of the men at this point. if you combine speaker boehner and president obama, do you thank you is a gut reaction who has their back, if you will? >> all of the above, also a reflection of the election.

i hear this from callers. people do believe the president is entitled to have an upper hand, given that he just won the election. one other data that jumped off the page at me is that 56% will hold everybody accountable and blame them equally if they don't cut the deal, tamron. >> shira that is a great point that michael makes, women talk about it part of our gut check that folks in the end, they will blame someone if they look up beginning of the year and there is plenty, it seems, to go around when looking at the members of congress. >> right. absolutely. and i think one of the reasons that more people -- the people of a lower opinion of john boehner in a lot of these talks is people already have a very low opinion of congress, no wonder. they have been really incompetent when it comes to passing key legislation. this will be the biggest of it all if they cannot pass a deal at all by the end of the year. >> chris, i know you're a democratic strategist, loyal to your party, one of the reasons we enjoy having you on, you have been a fair voice as well, you have been critical when necessary. of your party, not saying put

democrats in a box here, but the overall picture of congress and this inability to compromise when we saw this situation coming, it was interesting to watch the beginning of the talks, people were like, there's no way, they have got to reach a deal here, we are not going to have this 11th hour vote, as we have seen way too many times. and here again, it seems, we are headed in that direction, at least that's the storyline today. >> well, you know, party's nice but i think the one thing that's great about this country, we all kind of put our country first. the problem i think i have and that a lot of americans have the word compromise seems to be a four-letter word in washington. >> why is that? is that to hold onto power? the cliche of being, you know, i want -- it's my way or the highway and that keeps me being the sfwhos why is a dirty word when in anything else that you negotiate, if you are buying a house, heck, if you are getting married, you guys sit down and you talk about where you want to live, what you want to do. why does that seem to escape and evaporate from brains upon

entering washington, d.c.? >> it is a short-sightedness. i think the consequences aren't there even in the last congress, overwhelming majority of congress got re-elected, one of the conflicts voters have can want compromise and let people in that don't want compromises in many case. what has to happen here, the republicans have to come to terms with some reality and the reality is, not only lost the election, they lost a policy argument. and the policy argument has to be solved with understanding the fact you cannot simply do this with spending cuts it is mathematically impossible. so, if they want to sit there -- >> spending cuts without being specific, what you are hearing lot -- >> exactly. >> from people at home is the focus seems to be again on those who have the least. you look at medicare or social security, look at where the cuts are to take place, you look at

the data, those are not significant problems facing us. there's no conversation about defense. and there's no -- there's no specific plan coming from republicans and i think people become really offended in many cases when you start talking about medicare and social security because logic tells you you social security, that that's not the overwhelming problem in our budget. >> i think you hit it right on the head the amazing thing, you talk about entitle reforms, we are going to have sear joyce about it but not serious about tonight backs to of the people that need it to survive and live n terms of defense cut, i, for the life of me, and i remember this on the hill, i don't understand why there's not a more serious discussion about scaling back defense cuts. war savings is not a defense country. spending an enormous amount of money on defense, the largest chunk of our budget. if we continue down this road of pretending, democrats and republican does it pretend we

are not going to reduce the defense budget, i don't know how we are going to achieve this miraculous spending restraint and balance we need. >> chris, thank you vet. shira, a great pleasure having you on, my first time with you on news nation. a pleasure to see you, michael. see you tomorrow. >> thank you. digging deep near our new nbc news poll, we will tell you the top three words americans used to describe republicans and not one of them is grand, old or party. plus, secretary of state hillary clinton is expected on capitol hill in exactly one week to testify about a report on benghazi and what went wrong there. it comes as her approval rating hits an all-time high but will she make another run for the white house? >> i really don't believe that that's something i will do again. what i want to do is just kick back. and you can join our conversation on twitter. you can find us and kicking back at @news nation. today, secretar

hillary clinton will be on capitol hill to testify about a state department report on the lady attack in benghazi. officials tell nbc news the report is expected to be highly critical of the state department's security decisions ahead of the attack and the testimony comes at time when secretary clinton's popularity is through the roof. 58% positive rating. our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. despite calls to run for president, pleas in some cases, secretary clinton would not commit in a brand-new interview. >> i really don't believe that

that's something i will do again f. >> you know your husband wants to you in 2016 what do you say to him? >> he want mess to do what i want to do and he has made that very clear around some of what i want to do is just kick back. >> joining me now, nbc political analyst and former pennsylvania governor, ed rendell. once again with us, chris kofinis, democratic strategist. governor, thanks for joining us. we don't expect secretary clinton to say anything other than what she has at this point. but dare i ask this question, what do you believe will happen here? i hate it because i feel like we are still dealing with so many issues. the woman needs break. give her a chance to relax and everyone is already chiming in. here we go, what do you think? >> i genuinely believe what she said is the truth, if you injected her is sodium pentothal and ask her if she is going to run for president she would say no. she is tired. the secretary of state, particularly the way she did it,

is the most tiring job, more tiring than president. the travel sun believable. and she thinks she has given a great deal to her country, which she has. can she be persuaded once she gets some rest? i think the answer to that is yes and i believe in the end, not now, but in the end, we will be able to persuade her the country's challenges are so great we will need continuing leadership and she is the one to provide t. >> let play her reaction to barbara walters discussing age and let's just play it and you can hear it for yourself there. >> you will be 69 in 2016, if you ran. if you won two terms, you would be 77. is your age a concern to you? >> it really isn't. i'm thankfully, knock on wood, not only healthy but have incredible stamina and energy. i just want to see what else is out there. >> she wants to see what sells out there as brilliant as she is

and as popular, months important job in the world is being president of the united states there are so many things she can offer. >> absolutely. her options are wide open. she has an incredible resume, to say the least. what i think is amazing about secretary clinton, she crafted an identify bit herself and of herself bigger than one party. you know, the four years she has had as secretary of state has been remarkable, done, by every standard, a fantastic job. my advice to her and i think she knows better than anyone is take some time and rest because the pace she has been on is an unbelievable amount of strain on any human being. so i think for her to take some time, decide what she wants to do, got lecture circuit. >> the present is upon us, this

issue of her testifying at this hearing governor rendell, as i reported, this report is pretty scathing, as far as the criticism for the state department. might this be a potential problem for secretary clinton? there have been voices thought wondered why she has not been scrutinized as much as susan rice or general david petraeus, into matter, even though he was slightly scrutinized about that as well? >> that is a fair inkwurry. secretary clint, as you recall, right before the debates, took full responsible for the what happened in ben gas zip. and she was the secretary of state. were there mistakes made in the department? yes. were they her mistakes, probably not. but as head of the department she takes responsibility for them. i agree with chris her performance, i can't remember in my lifetime, a secretary of state as effective. this problem, and this is a

problem, will be a very, very minor thing on her record as secretary of state o >> it depends on how this hearing goes, you have republicans who reportedly behind the scenes fearful to take her on if they decide to launch an assault if they can't, if you will, get their hoornsd susan rice, unfollowing go after the former cis director, general david petraeus, might she be the target? >> i doubt t i don't think that would be a smart strategy on any front, given her popularity and her accomplishments. i think secretary clinton has been clear and matter of fact

about her responsibility and let's wait and see what the report says but anyone, i think, republicans in particular want to play this political game on what was a terrible convenient, i think that will be the blow back that will come back on them and not be a smart move. >> governor rendell, chris you thank you so much. we apologize for the audio problem there with chris. thank you, guys. wall street should perhaps watch out. the latest on senator-elect elizabeth warren's new committee assignment is a big one and just one of the things we thought you should know. [ male announcer ] you like who you are... and you learned something along the way. this is the age of knowing what you're made of. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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hollen suggesting john boehner is holding up the fiscal talks to protect his speakership. dig deep in that one. michael tamasky from the daily beast will talk to us about the troubles facing the gop leader. and be sure to check out our news station tumblr page, fined behind-the-scenes pictures. no, no one brought in their pet monkey. this is darwin, the famous ikea monk kim he is still not with his owner. they are keeping them apart. we are still obsessed with this story though, days later. [ woman ] dear cat, your hair mixes with pollen and dust. i get congested. but now, with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed.

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as for democrats, 44% approve, 35% disapprove. joining me now a closer look at the numbers, nbc political editor mark murray. mark, you know d.c. so well and we know the optic story matters. when you look at these poll numbers, i mean there is a common theme here. >> there is. and common theme is that president obama has the upper hand in these fiscal cliff negotiations and everything else going on right now, precisably because the perceptions of the party right now n fairness to the republican party, tamron this is what almost always happens, a party loses a presidential election, the numbers go down. ask respondents in a word or phrase their perception of the republican parties and with the republican party, 65% of the comes were negative, includes more than half of republicans. even republicans were criticizing their own party and that, to me, is very

interesting. kind of shows you where the political landscape is right now. >> show you where the viewers might be looking at, may be looking at the screen and looking at this bad, weak, neg tivgs uncomp prom migz, need to work together, broken, out of touch when describing the gop. the word cloud for the dems, for the people, working class, still confused, misguided, liberal, left, doing a good job. >> the one that stood out know the republicans is uncompromising, you my the fiscal cliff debate. the republican party is the one not willing to compromise as much and polls shown that to be the case, republicans don't have the upper hand in this five. now, of course, both sides need

to come to -- >> i think we just had a technical problem and mark was live, that was not a tape of mark. not sure why we had that max headroom moment. a new piece in the daily beast makes the argument that some republicans are dumping their own party. part of it is the quote from the article is while imagine joifrts rank and file republicans express pretty reasonable opinions about most of the great questions of the moment, their representatives in washington are ignoring them and instead striving to please the more extreme minority. we had this word cloud up, words, bad, weak, negative, uncompromising, need work together. that fits a lot into perhaps what you have addressed in your

piece? >> yeah, exactly the same thing. they reinforce each other. it was interesting to hear mark murray saying that some of those comments from the republican party even came from rank and file republicans which i found to be true in the piece i wrote about today. i took at a different poll, not your poll. >> how dare you, michael, not look at our poll. >> done by a pollster, who has polled for nbc. and in that poll, imagine joirlts of republicans very often large majorities of republicans, mid and high 60s, support what you would think democratic fixes for a this fiscal cliff problem. they don't want to raise the medicare eligibility age, 60-something republicans, don't want to see big cut us in medicaid or medicare, 60-something percent don't want cuts in medicare and medicaid. the rank and file republicans,

the piece you quoted from mip says it, rank and file republicans have kind of reasonable views here. the republicans in washington are just catering to the extremists in their own party. it is interesting that you have congressman chris van hollen yesterday saying he believes part of the maybe the strategy of speaker boehner in stalling out these talks to hold onto his position as speaker. you said he is hugely popular within the ranks. >> i don't know enough about what individual members of the house republican caucus are thinking about him right now but i would say this, it's entirely possible that if he gives obama his increase in marginal tax rates before january 1st sure, a lot of the tea party-type people in his cause cuss might think of him as a sellout. of course, he always has the threat of eric captor tapping him on the shoulder, wanting to be speaker around eric captor

having the support of those more extreme hard right types. that is always a threat for boehner, always something he has to think about. more broadly and as more broadly than just to boehner. all these republicans, either half of them are partiers and the other half who aren't are scared to death they are going to be primaried in their next election by a tea party. >> just quickly here, what do you make of speaker boehner not coming out, at least at this point, being more direct regarding tax cuts for the wealthiest? from conservative radio to members of his own party, which started with tom cole earthquake the congressman it is all but impossible for the party to avoid that concession, if it is a concession or fairness, whatever your description or perspective, it is unavoidable. >> i saw what smerconish said in your earlier segment, republicans should embrace it, they can turn around and put pressure on obama.

but you and i and smerconish don't really know what the conservative base in john boehner's district and other districts around the country, house districts around the country are going to do when boehner and other house members say that they embrace that tax hike. they are going to go ballistic and look for somebody to run against them and make their life very, very difficult and that's big part of the problem here. >> michael thomas ski, thank you. one u.s. soldier killed and three wounded after a suicide attack on a nato base in afghanistan moments after a visit is by secretary of defense leon panetta. panetta met with commanders and spoke to u.s. troops at the base before returning to kabul to meet with afghan president, hamid karzai. during a joint news conference, panetta invited karzai to washington to meet with president obama at the white house. we are joined live from kabul. do we know president karzai's

response to that invitt nation it comes at an interesting time he gave a controversial interview blaming the u.s. and nato for some of the problems he sees existing in afghanistan. >> reporter: he blamed some of the insecurity here, in part on u.s. and nato forces, their continued presence, their behavior toward the afghan people and the fact that they are still here. we don't yet know what will come of negotiations that are to be continuing next year, if karzai does, in fact, come to the states while necessary d.c. to meet with president obama. we did receive a statement from a u.s. official today on the invitation from the white house, saying that they hope that the negotiations will continue to lay out the rules of the road for a "potential u.s. military presence after 2014." and that is one of the issues that looms large over any talks between the u.s. and afghan officials these days.

we know it was a topic of discussion between secretary panetta and president karzai in the private meeting that they held today and the details of that arrangement have not yet been worked out. previous, of course, mr. karzai had mentioned that any terms of agreement would have to be on afghanistan's terms and that they would have to respect afghanistan's sovereignty moving forward. still a lot of daylight between the two sides we don't know what that's going to look like after 2014 >> can you tell us more about this attack that left one u.s. soldier killed and three others wounded? -- it is two earlier today, two and a half hours after the secretary left the base. the taliban claimed responsibility of the attack. it was a car bomb outside the gate to kandahar airfield. we also understand from local sources as many as as 18 afghans were killed -- wounded, sorry, and two were killed. we know the secretary there was talking to the troops earlier

and the tremendous progress made, all the work they have done. there seems to be a lot of work to be done. >> thank you. what new jersey governor chris christie says when barbara walters asked him about his weight. >> there are people who say that you couldn't be president because you're so heavy. what do you say to them? [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- social security are just numbers thinkin a budget.d... well, we worked hard for those benefits. we earned them. and if washington tries to cram decisions about the future... of these programs into a last minute budget deal... we'll all pay the price. aarp is fighting to protect seniors with responsible... solutions that strengthen medicare and... social security for generations to come. we can do better than a last minute deal... that would hurt all of us. so software mogul john mcafee says he will stay in the u.s. for now after leading authorities on an international game of hide and seek. last night you mcafee arrived in miami after being deported from guatemala. the 67-year-old tried evading authorities in belize who want to question him in connection with the death of his neighbor but mcafee says he has nothing to do with the burdener.

>> i'm not worried at all. if i'm in front of a court, nothing they will do to send me back. they have no evidence. it is a trumped up x this is on the tenth crime they have charged me with. >> mark potter is live in miami. so mark is he just free to go? what is the latest there? >> reporter: yeah, he is absolutely free too go and where he is now in a hotel on south miami beach. he came out about three hours ago and spoke to reporters and didn't really give any indication what he plans to do in the future but did he express some concern for the well being of two young girl friends of his left behind in guatemala when he was deported there to miami yesterday, says he is worried about how they are being treated. previous interviews last night and this morning, however, he made it very clear these not involved, he says, in that killing in belize involving his neighbor, who was shot to death in november.

he said he is being harassed by the belizean government, following talk to belizean authorities but only here in the united states. the authority says they want to talk to him, want to ask him questions. he is not listed as a suspect. he has certainly not been charged. he says he has no interest in going back to belize under the current government, saying he has been harass there had for some time and this current event involving the murder entered a inchoirry is a rurlt of that harassment so he says he has no interest in going there bill talk to them if they come here. az to the united states government, there's no reason to hold him. he was escorteded off the plane last night when he arrived in miami by authorities but was freed and is now free and with the tourists over there on south beach. he said last night that he plans to stay in miami for a while. he said there is a good sushi rest raw. he likes sushi. that's about all the guidance we have so far what he plans to do

tamron? >> mark, bizarre story, for sure. thank you very much bizarre details. the changing face of america tops our look at stories around the "news nation" today. brand new census projection say minority groups will outnumber whites by the year 2043. experts say there are two big reasons why, the hispanic population is expected to grow and the white population is expected to decrease. it's what many i phone users have been waiting for, google map application is now available in the app store. apple outraged so many customers when it replaced google map with their own vers in september. the map prompted a public apology and firing of the executive responsible for what was widely criticized as a terrible maps system. and the steven spielberg film "lincoln" topped the list of golden globe nomination. "lincoln" earned seven nominations including best dram manned best director. ben affleck "argo" and quentin tarantino's "jack go" had five

nomination. the ceremony will air live on february. our gut check is up next. we want to know who you would blame if there's no compromise to avoid the fiscal cliff. join the "news nation" on facebook. we are at facebook facebook.com/newsnati facebook.com/newsnation. for those with visions of doing this... ...this... ...and this, dancing in their heads... ...we have these. home depot gift cards. give the gift of doing, in-store or online. that was me... the day i learned i had to start insulin for my type 2 diabetes. me... thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. and me... discovering once-daily levemir® flexpen. flexpen® is prefilled. doesn't need refrigeration for up to 42 days. no drawing from a vial. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. flexpen® is insulin delivery...

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nation" on twitter, of course, it is. a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. california governor jerry brown, thoughts and prayers are women him,est being treated for early stage prostate cancer. the 74-year-old is getting radiation but says he plans to keep a full work schedule. his doctor says the prognosis is excellent. it is official, former consumer watchdog and senator-elect elizabeth warren will have a top spot on the

senate banking committee. throughout her career, warren has been a huge critic of big banks. the massachusetts democrat will serve on the special committee on aging and the committee on health education labor and pensions. and new jersey governor chris christie is talking about whether his weight will keep him from becoming president if he decides to run in the future. here is what he told barbara walters. >> there are people who say that you couldn't be president because your aso heavy, what do you sty them? >> these ridiculous. i don't know what the basis is -- >> i think they are worried about your health. >> i have done this job pretty well. >> those are the things we just thought you should know. time now for the "news nation" gut check, our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll asks who will be to blame if there's no compromise on a fiscal cliff? here are the results. 56% say they had would blame both parties 24% would blame the gop and 19% said they would blame the president and democrats.

so, what does your gut tell you? who will be to blame if no compromise is reached, democrats, republicans or both? go to facebook/"news nation" to cast your vote or tweet it to us. see what people are saying about yesterday's cut gut check about michigan's right-to-work law you a subject of the an editorial in the "detroit free press" say thank says unions need to be reminded what life was like without them and unions built the middle class. we asked you, do you think unions helped grow the middle class? 92% of you said yes. 8% said no. that does it for this edition of "news nation." thanks for hanging with us. i'm tamron hall. we will be back here tomorrow. "the cycle" is up next. spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from.

and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late. basketball is back in the cycle. i'm crystal ball. yes, it is thursday. so put me in,